Delicious Food And Beverage fan-Healthy Care And Tips

It was difficult for me to find the exact English equivalent for Sweet Tau Kee or Sweet Tou Kan, a type of soya product which is popular amongst vegetarians. Sweet Tau Kee comes in rectangular dried hard pieces and are brown in colour and you will need to soften them by pre-soaking in water for a few minutes prior to cooking. I have had experience where certain Sweet Tau Kee softens much faster than others depending on different manufacturers. After they have softened, you should cut them into smaller pieces as they measure approximately 15cm in length and 5 cm in width prior to cooking.

Sweet Tau Kee is not for everyone due to its unique taste, which can be bitter to some. Here, I have paired the Sweet Tau Kee with Choy Sum (菜心) or “Flowering Chinese Cabbage” so that there is a good balance between the subtle sweetness of the Tau Kee and the refreshing Choy Sum greens. This dish is quite easy to cook and with a little effort in presentation, you can dish out something which can rival what is being offered in the chinese restaurants. By the way, if you intend to serve this as a complete vegetarian dish, omit garlic from the ingredients.

This is my recipe for Choy Sum with Sweet Tau Kee

Ingredients

• 200 grammes Choy Sum (choose tender shoots, rinsed thoroughly to remove dirt)
• 3 pieces Sweet Tau Kee (pre-soak till soft enough to cut with scissors, yet with a little firmness. Cut into desired sizes)
• 3 cloves garlic (sliced thinly)
• Water for blanching Choy Sum
• Potato starch (mix 1 teaspoon potato flour with 100 ml water)
• 2 tablespoons peanut / corn oil

Seasoning

• 1 tablespoon mushroom / abalone flavoured sauce
• A pinch of salt
• A couple of dashes of white pepper powder

Method

Bring to boil in a pot or wok. Add a liberal pinch of salt and a couple of drops of cooking oil. Whilst water is boiling rapidly, add Choy Sum and blanch it until the leaves turn dark green, indicating that it is cooked. Remove and drain. Arrange Choy Sum on a plate.

Heat cooking oil in wok and fry the sweet tau kee for 1 minute on both sides on medium high heat. Once done, push the sweet tau kee to one side and add garlic to remaining oil. Saute till aromatic.

Then, push back the sweet tau kee to the garlic and add 200 ml water. Bring gravy to boil and add seasoning to taste. Gradually add potato starch to thicken gravy to your preferred consistency. Then, pour gravy with sweet tau kee and garlic over the pre-arranged Choy Sum.

I love simple to cook dishes. And with vegetables, I like them quickly cooked so as to retain the texture and nutrition. Hence, this dish is one of my favourites. Choy Sum (sometimes known as Chinese Mustard Leaves or Chinese Flowering Cabbage or Sawi) is one of the most popular leafy greens available in markets in South East Asia. It can be cooked and eaten on its own or cooked with other ingredients.

In most chinese restaurants (especially those in Malaysia), you can order this dish but the price which they charge (approximately RM6.00 and above for a plate) does not justify the price of Choy Sum and the ease of preparation. It’s like getting ripped off. If you can get them from the market, you can cook this dish by your self at home. As long as you know how to boil water and fry “something”, you can be a chef just like those at chinese restaurants.

This is the recipe for Choy Sum with Oyster Sauce

Ingredients

• Choy Sum (amount up to you really, just wash them thoroughly. Then, pluck and separate the stem from the leaves. For the thicker part of the stem, try to remove the “skin” using a knife)
• About 5 bulbs of shallots and / or garlic (slice shallots or finely chopped garlic)
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt + 1 tablespoon of palm oil
• 3 tablespoons of palm oil (for frying)
• Water for boiling

Seasoning

• Oyster sauce (amount up to you)

Method

Heat up 3 tablespoons of palm oil in a wok and fry the shallots or garlic till golden brown. Remove fried shallots / garlic and set aside. Keep the oil separately.

Meanwhile, bring water to boil in a pot. Once it starts boiling, add salt and 1 tablespoon of palm oil. Allow water to boil briskly.

Add choy sum stems into the boiling water. Add leaves approximately 15 seconds after that. Stir well to ensure even blanching.

Once leaves have turned dark green (which is really beautiful!), remove leaves and stem from pot and arrange on a plate.

Drizzle the oil (which was used to fry the shallots / garlic) over the cooked choy sum followed by oyster sauce and top it up with fried shallots / garlic.

It’s time for another comfort soup and this time, I am featuring the Chinese White Radish Soup. The chinese white radish is also known as white radish (surprise!) or amongst the Japanese as the Daikon Radish. It basically looks like a white carrot which is oversized. It is quite a versatile vegetable as you can use it to make lo bak kou (turnip cake), stirfried, pickled or cooked in soups like the above. I am given to understand that amongst the chinese who practice or partake in traditional herbal medicine, the white radish is a no-no in the diet of the patient during treatment as it supposedly absorbs all the medicinal values. Anyone knows about this?

Anyway, the Chinese White Radish Soup is a simple recipe which is suitable even for beginners. Just prepare the ingredients, drop them into a crockpot / slow cooker / double-boiler or pot and simmer it. A good tasting healthy soup awaits you when it is done. I usually add dried cuttlefish and dried oysters for added taste and flavour but that is optional. Give this soup a try. It’s delicious.

This is my recipe for Chinese White Radish Soup

Ingredients

• 300 grammes pork ribs / bony pork or chicken parts
• 1 white radish (about 200 grammes or more – cut into large chunks or sliced)
• 8 red dates
• 1 piece dried cuttlefish
• 6 pieces dried oysters
• 700 ml water for soup (or approximately 2 1/2 soup bowls of water)
• 500 ml water

Method

Bring to boil 500 ml water in a pot. Add pork ribs / chicken part and allow the meat to cook slightly. Remove scum from surface of water. Remove meat and discard water.

Bring to boil 700 ml water in a clean pot. Add the partially cooked meat and the rest of the ingredients and bring back to boil. Then reduce heat to simmer for 2 to 3 hours or till soup reduced to 1 1/2 bowls water. Add salt to taste before serving.

If you are using a crockpot or double-boiler, reduce amount of water to just over a soup bowl. Add ingredients into pot. Boil the water separately and pour the boiling water into the pot before simmering. Enjoy your chinese white radish soup.

There are many duck recipes available out there and I am a lover of duck meat. Yet, I must confess that despite there being such a big variety of duck recipes, I am still partial to the chinese duck recipes – peking duck, roasted duck and stewed duck. Today, I shall share with you my wife’s family recipe for stewed duck. We call it Lor Ark in Hokkien.

This duck recipe uses dark soya sauce and some simple ingredients to give the duck an aromatic flavour yet retain the juiciness of the flesh. If you can get hold of the ingredients mentioned, I would recommend that you try this recipe for you will be amazed by how easy it is to cook a wonderful and delicious stewed duck dish.

This is my wife’s recipe for Chinese Stewed Duck

Ingredients

• 1 whole duck (approx 2 kgs)
• 3 inches galangal (lengkuas)
• 8 shallots
• 4 cloves garlic
• 50 grammes 5 spice powder
• 3 tablespoons dark soya sauce
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• salt to taste
• 1 litre hot water
• 4 tablespoons cooking oil

Method

Clean duck thoroughly by rubbing it with some salt. Rinse. Rub about 30 grammes of 5 spice powder over the duck and allow to marinade for 1 to 2 hours.

Pound the galangal, garlic and shallots separately.

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in wok and saute shallots till aromatic. Remove shallots. Add garlic and saute till aromatic. Remove garlic. Add galangal and saute till aromatic.

Return shallots and garlic into the wok and stir together with galangal till even. Add dark soya sauce and sugar. Stir well.

Add duck and coat it with mixture. Allow duck to cook and shrink slightly. Control heat so that duck does not burn. Once duck has shrunk slightly, add about 200 ml water and allow it to boil. Continue with another 200 ml and repeat process till 1 litre of water used. The water should be filled up to at least half the duck. Add remaining 5 spice powder and reduce heat to simmer.

Stew / simmer for 1.5 hours turning every 10 minutes. Add salt to taste and water if it is drying out.

Remove duck and drain off excess gravy. Allow to cool before serving with gravy (sieve gravy to remove spices before serving).

There are many duck recipes available out there and I am a lover of duck meat. Yet, I must confess that despite there being such a big variety of duck recipes, I am still partial to the chinese duck recipes – peking duck, roasted duck and stewed duck. Today, I shall share with you my wife’s family recipe for stewed duck. We call it Lor Ark in Hokkien.

This duck recipe uses dark soya sauce and some simple ingredients to give the duck an aromatic flavour yet retain the juiciness of the flesh. If you can get hold of the ingredients mentioned, I would recommend that you try this recipe for you will be amazed by how easy it is to cook a wonderful and delicious stewed duck dish.

This is my wife’s recipe for Chinese Stewed Duck

Ingredients

• 1 whole duck (approx 2 kgs)
• 3 inches galangal (lengkuas)
• 8 shallots
• 4 cloves garlic
• 50 grammes 5 spice powder
• 3 tablespoons dark soya sauce
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• salt to taste
• 1 litre hot water
• 4 tablespoons cooking oil

Method

Clean duck thoroughly by rubbing it with some salt. Rinse. Rub about 30 grammes of 5 spice powder over the duck and allow to marinade for 1 to 2 hours.

Pound the galangal, garlic and shallots separately.

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in wok and saute shallots till aromatic. Remove shallots. Add garlic and saute till aromatic. Remove garlic. Add galangal and saute till aromatic.

Return shallots and garlic into the wok and stir together with galangal till even. Add dark soya sauce and sugar. Stir well.

Add duck and coat it with mixture. Allow duck to cook and shrink slightly. Control heat so that duck does not burn. Once duck has shrunk slightly, add about 200 ml water and allow it to boil. Continue with another 200 ml and repeat process till 1 litre of water used. The water should be filled up to at least half the duck. Add remaining 5 spice powder and reduce heat to simmer.

Stew / simmer for 1.5 hours turning every 10 minutes. Add salt to taste and water if it is drying out.

Remove duck and drain off excess gravy. Allow to cool before serving with gravy (sieve gravy to remove spices before serving).

My mother-in-law made some chinese roast pork when we were in Kuching for the Chinese New Year. Chinese roast pork here refers to siew yuk (in cantonese) or sio bak (in hokkien). With a crispy crackling roasted skin and semi-tender meat, you can be assured of spoonfuls after spoonfuls of rice to go with it. No wonder I put on weight over Chinese New Year!

In Malaysia, there are many roast pork rice stalls around. It is very popular. A plate of white / fragrant rice with a few cuts of these roast pork and a couple of pieces of sliced cucumbers can cost about USD1.00 on the average depending where you go to. Very cheap, right? Absolutely.

This is my mother-in-law’s recipe for Chinese Roast Pork and the measurements are approximate only because she cooks it more by feel than using a strict recipe to follow.

Ingredients

1 piece of pork belly weighing approximately 1 kg3 tablespoons of coarse / rock salt2 tablespoons of fine salt1 tablespoon of five-spice powder

Method

Clean pork belly and pat dry with kitchen towel. Rub fine salt and five-spice powder on meat. Rub coarse salt on skin.

Heat up oven at gas mark 4 (about 180 degrees celcius). Place pork belly on a rack with a tray underneath to catch dripping oil. Roast the pork belly for at least 30 minutes and until the coarse salt crystalises just like in the picture above.

Remove the salt crystals and continue to roast till the skin is crispy. (Alternatively, what my mother-in-law did was to remove the pork belly and fry the pork belly in a wok with skin-downwards and without oil on medium heat till the skin turned crispy)

I have heard of some of the chinese roast pork recipe which called for the pork belly skin to be poked with a sharp knife so as to enable the fat to ooze out faster during roasting. You can try this additional step as well prior to rubbing the coarse salt. source:http://www.deliciousasianfood.com

Chinese leek flower can be considered a delicacy in chinese cuisine. It belongs to the same family as onions and is highly nutritious and sweetly flavoured. Usually, the “flower” is eaten before it blooms.

A secret to good tasting leek flower is to remove the “skin” very carefully from the stem. This layer of “skin” is as thin as cling-film and takes some practice to remove them.

Try not to use a knife as you will remove the outer-layer of the stem instead. Once you have removed the transparent looking “skin”, you are on the right track.

I usually cook the leek flower with beancurd (firm type), prawns and carrots. You can also throw in roasted pork for added flavour.

This is my recipe for Chinese Leek Flower with Beancurd, Carrots and Prawns.

Ingredients

• 200 grammes chinese leek flower (cut into an inch lengthwise, remove skin)
• 100 grammes carrots (cut into strips)
• 2 pieces of beancurd (hard type. Cut into strips and fry them till brown)
• 100 grammes of medium-sized prawns (keep tail intact and devein)
• 2 bulbs garlic (minced)
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 50 ml warm water

Seasoning

• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• Dash of white pepper

Method

Heat oil and fry garlic for 15 seconds or so. Add leek flower, carrots, prawns and pre-fried beancurd. Stir-fry till prawns are cooked.

Add seasoning and warm water and close lid. Cook for another 3 to 5 minutes. Add a little bit more water if the dish dries up.

If you want to add roast pork, chop the roast pork (amount up to you) and add it into the dish before seasoning. You might want to reduce the oyster sauce because roast pork can be a bit salty.

Serve hot with rice.

source:http://www.deliciousasianfood.com

If you are looking for a delicious pork recipe which tastes sweet and hot, Chilli Pork might just be what you are looking for. Using dried chillis for a fiery taste and dark soya sauce, this dish is guaranteed to whet your appetite and make you ask for second helpings of rice. Best of all, it is a simple dish to cook and can be attempted by a beginner.

I use pork belly for this recipe due to the texture of this part of the meat. Containing layers of fat and meat, each bite will give you a nice blend of slightly chewy meat in contrast with the smooth fat. No, it is not that healthy to be consuming this dish but once a fortnight or month should be fine. LOL! Again, just like the other recipes on this site, you don’t have to follow all the measurements of ingredients to the dot. If you like it more spicy, add more dried chillis or vice versa. Most of all, cook this and be blown away by its tastiness! Highly recommended!

This is my recipe for Chilli Pork

Ingredients

• 200 grammes pork belly (sliced thinly)
• 4 pieces dried chilli
• 8 cloves garlic (chopped finely)
• 200 ml hot water
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil

Seasoning

• 1 1/2 tablespoons dark soya sauce
• 2 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• white pepper powder to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon chinese cooking wine

Method

Heat oil in wok and saute dried chilli with garlic till aromatic.

Before garlic turns brown, add sliced pork and stir well. Add sugar and dark soya sauce. Once pork is cooked on outer side, add water gradually (ensure that water continues to boil) followed by salt, pepper and chinese cooking wine. source:http://www.deliciousasianfood.com

Chinese New Year was celebrated about 1 ½ months ago and there are two recipes for biscuits which I will be featuring here. One of the recipes is Cheese Biscuits – an all-time favourite of my wife. The Cheese Biscuits shown above were baked by my mother-in-law, one of the 10 types of biscuits she baked this year. Oh yes, my mother-in-law is good with baking.

These Cheese Biscuits have the usual cheesy taste – cheddar cheese to be exact. So, there is a little bit of saltiness and sweetness. Kids love them as well. The above Cheese Biscuits were came in a crescent moon shape. You can use any mould you want. Just be a little creative.

This is my mother-in-law’s recipe for Cheese Biscuits

Ingredients

• 230 grammes of cheedar cheese (sliced)
• 1 egg
• 170 grammes butter
• 340 grammes flour
• a little soda
• a little salt

Method

Sieve flour and soda together.

Put salt, butter and egg into mixer. Beat until fluffy and light. Then, add in cheese slices and flour. Mix well.

Put dough between grease paper and flatted it with rolling pin. Cut into smaller pieces and arrange on baking tray. Brush egg yolk over them, bake for about 15 minutes at 180 degrees Celcius.

I was never really a fan of carrot cakes all these while probably because I never had any good experience eating a good carrot cake out there. Maybe the thought of eating a “vegetable” cake deterred me from wanting to try this out compared to chocolate cakes or cheese cakes. Anyway, not any longer ever since we got ourselves a Fagor oven in our new house. Carrot cake rocks! More so when it is topped with lemon cream cheese frosting and eaten slightly chilled.

My wife made this a couple of weeks back and I’m now a fan of carrot cakes. Moist and nutritious, this carrot cake is laden with freshly grated carrots, sweetened pineapples, oven-toasted walnuts and plump raisins. I think the best part that there is no mixer involved (with a little caveat that a mixer would be required to prepare the frosting). Just get yourself a big bowl and spatula and give it a good mix ala manual

What makes this carrot cake so special that I have decided to call it the Ultimate Carrot Cake Recipe? Well, it’s been handed down from my mother-in-law to my wife, it tastes good as reported by many who have tasted this and most of all, one piece is never enough. Need I say more?

This is my mother-in-law’s recipe for Carrot Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

• 240 grammes carrots (grated)
• 120 grammes pineapples (tinned, drained and chopped)
• 60 grammes raisins (lightly chopped)
• 60 grammes walnuts (toasted, cooled and chopped coarsely)
• 240 grammes self-raising flour
• 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon powder
• 1/4 teaspoons nutmeg powder
• 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoons vanilla essence (add to eggs)
• 3 eggs
• 210 grammes castor sugar
• 180 ml cooking oil

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

• 60 grammes butter (room temperature)
• 230 grammes cream cheese (room temperature)
• 230 grammes icing sugar (sifted)
• 1 lemon (grate the skin)

Method

Sift the flour with soda and baking powder. Add castor sugar.

Whisk eggs until frothy in a separate bowl. Add in vanilla essence.

Pour egg mixture into the flour and stir well. Then add grated carrots followed by cooking oil. Add in the chopped pineapples and stir well.

Then add in the raisins and walnuts.

Pour mixture into a greased and floured tray and bake in a preheated oven at 170°C for 45 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to stand to cool before applying frosting.

Frosting

Put cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on low speed till blended. Gradually add icing sugar (sifted) and continue beating until smooth.

Add vanilla essence and grated lemon and allow to beat till well combined.

Ayam Sioh (Chicken in Spicy Tamarind Sauce) is a variant of Duck Sioh (Itik Sioh). This dish is essentially a sour and sweet based stew with a strong hint of tamarind juice (asam jawa) and ketumbar (coriander) spice. I have a feeling that this dish is a Baba-Nyonya Peranakan dish but I stand corrected. Anyway, I was introduced to this dish by my mother-in-law a couple of years back and took a liking to it due to its appetizing taste.

Thankfully, my lovely wife has inherited her mother’s recipe and over the weekend, decided to cook up this dish for Father’s Day lunch. We could not finish the dish as we used 1 whole chicken but we are not complaining because the longer this dish keeps, the tastier it gets. For better results, duck is preferred as the meat is “tougher� to withstand the marinate using tamarind juice. If you can’t find duck, try using “village / kampong� chicken or free-range chicken.

This is my mother-in-law / wife’s recipe for Ayam Sioh (Chicken in Spicy Tamarind Sauce)

Ingredients
1 whole chicken (approximately 1.5 to 2kgs, chopped into large pieces)

Marinade (blend together)

• 200 grammes shallots
• 3 tablespoons ketumbar (coriander) powder
• 225 grammes tamarind (asam jawa) mixed with 350 ml water (squeeze the juice and remove tamarind seeds)
• 10 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 tablespoons dark soya sauce
• 1 heaped teaspoon white pepper powder

Method

Wash chicken pieces thoroughly. Marinade chicken overnight or for at least 10 hours.

Transfer chicken and marinate to heavy bottomed aluminium saucepan and boil for 20 minutes over a moderate heat.

Turn the chicken pieces, reduce heat to low and boil for another 20 to 30 minutes or until chicken is very tender.